How to turn gmail security features off?

November 18, 2014 7:07 AM

I live internationally, mostly in China. My IP adress changes on an hourly basis.

Yes, I know google is toxic and I moved already to ixquick and duckduckgo for search purposes. But I still have several gmail accounts that need to get checked with Thunderbird. Is there any way I can turn off all the placebo bullshit that google offers as "security"? I don't need two way authentication, I don't need my account blocked if I do IMAP from a new IP address, what I need is access to my email.

posted by yoyo_nyc to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

With the two-factor I think it's as simple as going into your settings and turning off two-factor identification. It's an opt-in. I'm not sure about the IMAP thing - I use Mailbox and it never asks me to re-log-in.
posted by mskyle at 7:18 AM on November 18, 2014

I suggest to use a good VPN service that will give you a static IP inside the USA plus eliminates the need to use alliterative search engines. And give you access to the internet behind the great firewall.
posted by Mac-Expert at 7:35 AM on November 18, 2014

A frequently changing IP address is a red flag for email service providers because the vast majority of the time it indicates a compromised or spammer account; this is as much about Google protecting their service as it is about protecting you, and isn't "placebo bullshit". Pretty much all major email providers do something similar these days.

Your best bet is to use a VPN that can guarantee a relatively stable IP address; disabling security features on the account is unlikely to help you with the IP blocks (and may even hurt, since your account may be viewed as less trusted now).
posted by Aleyn at 3:18 PM on November 18, 2014

That said, if you do find an email provider that doesn't care about your IP address changing so often, you can always have Gmail forward your mail to that account.
posted by Aleyn at 3:24 PM on November 18, 2014